Afterschool Programs and Outreach

Access to the Arts for All Children

Throughout each season, Arts on the Horizon is continually looking for ways to create access to the arts for young children, regardless of their family's financial status. For each show in our regular season, Arts on the Horizon partners with Northern Virginia Family Services to bring local Head Start classes to enjoy performances, free of charge. Additionally, each school year, Arts on the Horizon works with schools in the City of Alexandria to provide free or reduced-rate after school creative drama classes for those who could otherwise not afford to participate.

Free Tickets to Shows

Children in Northern Virginia Head Start Programs are able to attend performances free of charge. Each year, Arts on the Horizon typically offers over 300 free tickets for children in these programs.

​Free and Discounted Afterschool Programs

Currently offered at the following schools:

Jefferson-Houston Elementary

Mount Vernon Community School​

Afterschool Programming Utilizes the Following Virginia Standards of Learning:

Literacy:

The child will develop listening and speaking skills by communicating experiences and ideas orally.

The child will develop an understanding of word meanings through the use of appropriate and expanding vocabulary.

The child will demonstrate knowledge of print concepts and understand the connection between the spoken and written word.

The child will write using a variety of materials and technology to convey thoughts, ideas, and experiences.

Mathematics:

The child will count with understanding and use numbers to tell how many, describe order, and compare.

Health and Physical Development:

The child will demonstrate motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities. (locomotor, non-locomotor, and manipulative skills)

The child will use the movement concepts of directions, levels, pathways, and effort while performing locomotor (move body from one place to another), non-locomotor (move around axis of body), and manipulative (move in conjunction with object) skills.

The child will participate in structured and unstructured physical activity designed to achieve a health-enhancing level of physical fitness.

The child will demonstrate the ability to cooperate with others and follow safety rules while participating in physical activities.

Personal and Social Development:

The child will demonstrate self-confidence and self-reaction.

The child will show self-direction and responsibility.

The child will show eagerness and persistence as a learner.

The child will interact easily with other children and with familiar adults.

The child will learn and use appropriate verbal skills to resolve conflicts with peers, and to ask for help when needed.

Music:

The child will investigate how music is used formally and informally, and engage in multiple visual, aural, and hands-on musical experiences by singing, dancing, and using a variety of materials and instruments.

Visual Art:

The child will develop an awareness of the mechanics of the visual arts and produce various forms on a regular basis.

The child will respond to the visual arts in a variety of ways using the body and multiple materials.

The child will examine and express different feelings and experiences through the visual arts.